The Newton Abbot-based family business, which specialises in supplying unique hoarding solutions for major infrastructure and construction projects, worked with the Plannet Zero Initiative, part of Redshaw Advisors.
Conducting a comprehensive review of its business emissions, Plasloc looked at heating, diesel, and electricity usage, as well as water, waste, and employee travel to and from work, and then purchased 176t CO2e of verified carbon credits to rebalance the organisation’s operational greenhouse gas emissions for 2019.
Those credits are supporting the Tambopatu-Bahuaja Biodiversity Reserve project in Peru and the Borusan EnBW Enerji Wind Farm project in Turkey, meaning 591,851 hectares of forest will be protected and 373,000tCO2e fossil fuel derived emissions will be avoided every year.
Plasloc’s Director Leigh Matthews said: “The construction sector is one of the largest producers of emissions and, given the strong green ethos of the business, we are delighted Plasloc is now certified operational carbon neutral.
“There is a huge national drive on becoming carbon neutral going forward for businesses and we wanted to be ahead of the game as we noticed none of our competitors are certified.
“As 2020 was a disrupted due to the pandemic, resulting in lower operational emissions, we thought 2019 would be a good starting point and, while it took slightly longer than anticipated to collate our footprint, we’re there now and it shows that Plasloc is the right company to choose.”
Plasloc’s drive towards a greener future started from the very beginning in 2010, with the development of its patented plastic external and internal hoarding as an environmentally friendly alternative to standard building materials.
Operating on a hire basis to maintain a zero-waste policy, all products are sent for recycling at the end of their life and extruded back into the next generation of Plasloc, with the company donating all funds received from that process to the charity Just One Ocean.
In addition, 2022 will see the exciting launch of their e-commerce subsidiary; Plas-Shop. These initiatives will be replicated and embedded whilst also offering customers the opportunity to have any unused products recycled and proceeds donated to Just One Ocean (where applicable).
“Achieving carbon neutrality shows our ongoing commitment to the environment but while we celebrate this important milestone, we also recognise that this is just the first step on a much longer journey to reduce our carbon footprint as much as we can,” added Leigh.
“We will continue to take further measures to reduce our carbon footprint and offset it to ensure we continue to have a positive impact on the environment.”
Plasloc has been an essential component in more than 6000 projects and is a recognised brand amongst the UK’s leading retailers and building contractors.
